1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to card games, and more particularly to card games implemented on or with an electronic or computer apparatus.
2. Background of the Related Art
Games of many types are played in both private and public places. One popular type of game are card games, in which players manipulate cards from a deck to achieve a desired game outcome. For example, games based on the traditional 52-card deck, such as blackjack, solitaire, and poker, are well-known and liked by many people. Typically, a combination of both skill of the player and luck helps determine who wins the card game. For example, the skill of the player in such situations as when to discard cards, when to draw new cards, recognizing a potentially winning combination, or predicting future card draws and other player's actions can influence the result of the game. However, luck plays a more central role in most card games since the cards have been shuffled together or otherwise randomized, and which (random) cards are drawn during a game substantially affects which player wins the game.
Cards games are also quite popular in gambling environments, such as a casino. Games such as blackjack are popular in the traditional method of a dealer passing physical cards to players, where players bet money on the game outcome. In addition, card games are commonly implemented with the use of a computer apparatus and video screen to portray card images on the screen which the player must manipulate as in the traditional game. The player inserts money into the game, and the cards are randomly provided to the player from a deck similar to the traditional game so that the player will sometimes be rewarded with a money payback when a particular outcome is achieved. Thus, video poker, video blackjack, and other games are widespread in casinos. The randomness of which cards will be drawn in both the traditional form and in the video implementations is quite attractive to the casinos, since the odds of the player winning can be determined and allow the casino to determine how much money players will input to a game and how much money, on average, the casino will keep. Since skill plays a minor role in these games, the casino is relatively assured of an average income from a game.
Besides traditional gambling games, games which offer prizes to players have become popular in recent years. For example, in a traditional ticket redemption arcade, players receive tickets or prizes for playing a game, where the number of received tickets or the worth of the prize is based on a score or other outcome of the game. The player may later exchange won tickets for prizes.
One problem with the random factor of card games occurs when card games are desired to be played in non-gambling environments, such as many of the redemption arcades mentioned above. Many areas have rules or laws which prohibit gambling-type games, in which a player inserts money into the game and may win money or a prize based on the game's random outcome. Card games such as video blackjack and video poker are typically considered random enough to be gambling games, and are often prohibited in areas where gambling is banned. Thus, most prize or ticket games allowed in a non-gambling environment are games whose outcomes are based to a greater degree on the skill of the player and less on random results in the game.
This is a problem for an operator who wishes to provide a well-known card game to players in a non-gambling environment, where prizes or tickets can be won by the player of the card game. For example, a video solitaire card game can be provided in which a player must insert money to play and may win a prize if the player wins the game. However, since traditional solitaire provides cards randomly from a simulated deck, it will not be allowed in many non-gambling areas. This prevents players from playing well-known and entertaining card games in non-gambling environments. What is needed are implementations of well-known card games that allow a player to exert more skill in influencing the card games' outcome so that the card games can be played in non-gambling environments, and are more entertaining and rewarding for the player.